The fourth poem in this series—and my second “covid” poem published in Global Poemic—is “The Forgotten Mask” [original link: The Forgotten Mask – Global Poemic (wordpress.com); archival link: February 2021 – Global Poemic (wordpress.com)]. It appeared on February 24, 2021, when the Covid pandemic was nearly a year old, but the mask mandate was still … More Fall 2022 Poetry Reading Series, #4
I am excited, humbled, and proud to announce that my latest poem, “Chaos – 2022” appears today in Minyan Magazine, alongside 9 other excellent poems in issue 5. This poem was originally written in October 2020 (Hebrew year 5781) for the Beth Am Synagogue (Baltimore) annual Poetry Shabbat, which took place during the darkest period of … More Announcement: Poem #11 Just Published!
My third published poem is titled “I Don’t Want to Play The “Capitol” Edition of Clue™”. It appeared on January 25, 2021, in the online journal Oddball Magazine [https://oddballmagazine.com/poem-by-jackie- oldham-2], 19 days after the January 6th Insurrection in Washington, D.C. Like many of you, I watched the Insurrection unfold on live television, and it took … More Fall 2022 Poetry Reading Series, #3
“Golem Emet,” my first published poem, appeared in the online journal Oddball Magazine on September 24, 2020 [Poem by Jackie Oldham – oddball magazine]. I needed a way to process the sudden death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg six days earlier, at a critical point in the 2020 Presidential Election campaign. Then-President Trump … More Fall 2022 Poetry Reading Series #1
I. After the evening nap Pick up the heavy glass Mount Rushmore mug she bought you many years ago. Pour your favorite libation– Cherry Coke… What is that floating in the soda??? Head smack realization: Several dead petals and leaves from your only dried flower arrangement…. Empty the glass, rinse, Start over. Drink fountain soda … More Mother’s Day 2022 – Insta-Poem*
It wasn’t meant to be a race, when, at the same moment, my next-door neighbor and I happened to slip-slide from our houses to our respective cars to scrape away 3 days’ worth of ice and escape cabin fever. She tiptoed across her crystal lawn, avoiding her ice-rink-ready sidewalk, carrying a piece of cardboard to … More The De-Icing of Two Cars
Monday morning,Cold and steel gray,The old lady drove to the convenience storeWith steely confidenceFor milk and breadTo start her day. She strode into the store,Gathered her items,And placed them on the counter. The counter lady asked“Where your mask, sweetie?”The old lady cried out, high-pitch laughing, “Oh My God! I left it in the car!” And … More The Forgotten Mask
Covid TV Winter Snow December 18, 2020 My cable is disabled.Local channels, only,appear. Beyond basic,Snow—pixelated screen,Sound fading in and out, First disrupting the most-watched channel band-width—59 to 208—gone. MSNBC and MeTV, CNN and The Weather Channelsnowed out. Other band-withs,usually ignored,come into view: On SyFy, an old CSI: LV anda never-before-noticed Bruce Willis shoot-em-up distracted me … More GOODBYE, 2020 (in Three Poems)
The Art of Trees October 23, 20204:11pm My father taught methe art of treeswhen I was young, always pointing out his favorites: 1.In Druid Hill Park there lay a giant tree trunk gnarled and imposingfor as long as he could remember. Each time we drove past it,on our alternate routefrom West to Northeast Baltimore,he would … More TREES – A Series of Ekphrastic Poems
I. On Broadway Our tour bus rolled into Manhattan and through the narrow, bustling streets of Broadway, Right on schedule for us to disembark and stand on-line to see “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” The story of the Temp-Tay-shuns! Waiting for the theatre doors to open, my aunt and I lamented, “This may be my … More New York Trippin’
baltimoreblackwoman 